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english_jewel's Journal

Created on 2008-02-16 21:50:01 (#14957002), last updated 2008-02-18

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Name:	Gemma Doyle

Bio

HISTORY

Gemma Doyle was born in the late 1800s in England, but moved to India before she really got a taste of what life was like in England at the time. She lived with her father, a businessman, her mother and her older brother, Tom in a palatial house with servants and every luxury a girl could possibly want. Gemma, however, longed for the unfamiliar and the foreign and that was neatly represented by England and, specifically, London. This desire only increases as Gemma grows older and is compounded by the fact that her brother Tom has been sent to university back in London on the request of Gemma's grandmother.

Gemma's sixteenth birthday causes the situation to boil over, and results in she and her mother having a bitter fight in the Bombay marketplace over Gemma being allowed to visit London. This situation is compounded further by the mysterious Indian man whispering about the arrival of a witch and Mrs. Doyle's breakdown and subsequent suicide. Before killing herself, however, Mrs. Doyle gives Gemma a mysterious amulet shaped like a crescent moon.

A few weeks after Mrs. Doyle's death (and the cover-up by claiming cholera), Gemma gets her wish and is allowed to attend Spence Academy under the tutelage of Mrs. Nightwing. While there, she is placed in a room with a scholarship student, Ann Bradshaw, and her life is infinitely dull and dominated by thoughts of her late mother. While at Spence, Gemma meets and instantly dislikes the ambitious Felicity Worthington and her beautiful, if slow, best friend Pippa Cross. She also meets the mysterious Kartik, who tells her to forget the visions that have plagued her since the death of her mother, and threatens her if she does not take that action.

Felicity and Pippa take special pleasure in tormenting Ann, who wants nothing more than to be liked. Gemma stands up to them and, by a lucky course of events, Felicity becomes indebted to her when Gemma catches her in a compromising position with a Gypsy boy. Felicity and Pippa then want Gemma to join their inner circle, a request Gemma will only oblige if they also include Ann.

After discovering a secret diary and engrossing themselves in the lives of two former Spence students, Gemma confesses a secret she has been keeping since her mother's death: she has the ability to see the future in visions, and to change its course. Gemma also confesses that she knows the mysterious realm the diary speaks of, and by using her powers brings Felicity, Pippa and Ann over into its idyllic garden.

But not everything is idyllic in the realms, and as Felicity's greatest desire is power, she is seduced by the witch who killed Gemma's mother. Felicity uses the power that the witch's guise taught her to rescue Pippa from what is certain to be a loveless marriage, against the advice of Gemma. She brings the girls to the realms with a sacrifice, and as a result Pippa is left behind forever, her physical body dying as her spirit fades away.

Gemma comes to Hearts and Minds between the events of A Great And Terrible Beauty and Rebel Angels, while on a train to London.

PERSONALITY

Gemma is mysterious, as best described by her friend Felicity, but it is more than that. Gemma is atypical for a girl of her time, as she wants something more than being a perfect, obedient wife to a boorish and older husband, and is willing to defy social rules in order to achieve a love match. She keeps to herself, mostly, until meeting Felicity, Ann and Pippa, and even then she has her secrets that she keeps close to herself. Gemma's personality is mainly governed, however, by the overwhelming sense of guilt she feels surrounding her mother's death. She feels it is her fault, as they had argued prior to her death, and she feels trapped by having to parrot the party line of saying she died of cholera.

Gemma is also apprehensive about her powers, and wishes that she did not have them as it would make blending in and disappearing that much easier. Despite her desires to slough away anything that makes her special, she has a habit of calling attention to herself. She's an excellent liar, able to quickly come up with a cover for any sort of situation, but doesn't take pleasure in it the way Felicity does. She's horrid at French and only passable at music, but finds true talent in painting--as long as she's allowed to break the rules.

STANDARD DISCLAIMER

I am not Libba Bray, nor do I claim any rights to the character of Gemma Doyle. I am also not Rachel Hurd-Wood. This is merely for